[1] The variant ancestry supplied by some other sources is now considered inaccurate, for example the assertion of Muʿīn-ad-Dīn Naṭanzī (earlier known as the "Anonymous of Iskandar") that Murīd (i.e., Murād) was the son of Orda Shaykh (i.e., Ordu Malik),[2] or Khwandamir, Ötemiš-Ḥājjjī, and one Russian chronicle, making Murād (whom they call Murdād, Burut, and Murut, respectively) the parricide son of Khiḍr Khan.
Threatened by the advance of a competitor, Ordu Malik, Khiḍr Khan was murdered by his own son Timur Khwaja in 1361.
In August or September 1362, Murād fought a battle against Kildi Beg and emerged victorious, and his rival was killed.
Subsequent events are confused, but it seems Murād expelled ʿAbdallāh from Sarai in Mamai's absence, only to lose the city immediately to another Jochid prince, Khayr-Pūlād (or Mīr-Pūlād).
While the latter retained Sarai, the rest of the Golden Horde was divided between Murād and ʿAbdallāh, and both courts sought to win the loyalty and tribute of the vassal Russian princes.